We’ve had a message on our suggest-an-item page from Kaye:

what can i do to reuse/create something useful out of old sports trophies? i have only seen ideas for coat racks, but i already have one. these are the “plastic-people frozen in place and mounted on a block of stone” type ones.

i’ve also heard about giving them to a trophy shop to recycle. but what else??

Coat rack = awesome! As I mentioned on Things To Do Today last Friday, we need a new coat rack – if either John or I had ever achieved any sporting prowess, you can pretty much guarantee that’s what I’d be doing with our trophies around about now. Unfortunately we both preferred sitting to running about on fields and they don’t give out anywhere near as many trophies for that.

Anyway though, Kaye’s not up for a coatrack so any other ideas?

(Photo by coldphase)

We’ve had an email from Emily, asking about “wax paper/ parchment paper / aluminum foil boxes”:

It seems like they would be good for doing something more with, considering the long jagged edge / blade and all.

Funnily enough – and proof that everyone out there is READING MY MIND – I was thinking about this just the other week. My grease-proof paper box has plastic coating on the jagged edge, which makes it better for tearing but worse for recycling. Grr.

So any suggestions for reusing them – whether metal or plastic, or just a cardboard box?

And what about reducing them in the first place – anyone know of any particular companies that make refill rolls to save getting the whole new box each time? I seem to recall that some supermarket value brand in the UK is box-less but I can’t remember which one – and suspect that’s just wrapped in plastic instead anyway.

(Photo by Ilmari Karonen, c/o Wikipedia)

We’ve had an email from Bob:

I have lots of tea light candles…metal container as I use a lot of them.

I love those little candles but I hate the waste they produce…so I’d love to get some help with reusing them =)

The ones I’ve seen tend to be thick aluminium foil so they could probably be recycled along with your other aluminium products – we can doorstep recycle them here.

But I hear you Bob: reusing rocks!

I’ve seen them used countless times as miniature ashtrays – but ones that are thrown away after use, so that’s not exactly much better than throwing them away in the first place.

So any suggestions?

(Photo by kix)

We’ve had an email from Gwyn:

Taking our tree down yesterday, we found 6 (six!) baubles were pretty much destroyed and only staying together through some sort of Christmas miracle and another 10 were fractured and set to go the same way. Bloomin’ cats!

They’re glass so I was thinking I could recycle them with our normal glass recycling but then my fella pointed out that they might not be the same type of glass and they’re all painted/varnished too.

Can we recycle them or not?

I’m not 100% sure but I suspect the answer is no because of the layer of paint – especially if the paint is some sort of acrylic matte stuff or is glittery. Anyone know for sure?

Depending on quite how smashed they are, you might be able to renovate some of them to make a feature of the broken bits – perhaps poke a thin paintbrush through a hole and varnish the insides to hold the cracks together, then place a tiny decoration in there.

Failing that, wrap them in some newspaper (so bits of glass don’t fly everywhere) and smash them up into smaller pieces, then use them to do a mosiac design on, say, a photo frame or something.

Any other reuse suggestions – other than getting baubles that bounce in the future? ;)

(Photo by fishmonk)

We’ve had an email from Josh:

Hi, I’ve got one for you, playing cards. I play a lot of poker with my buddies and our cards get bashed up pretty quickly, the edges bent over primarily so we can’t play with them anymore. They’re plastic (?) coated so can’t be recycled with cardboard, right?

Just because you can’t play with them any more though doesn’t mean that they’re at the end of their useful life.

Yes, you’re right that they can’t be recycled as paper if they’re plastic coated – but they’d make fun bookmarks, the non-face cards could be used for shopping lists and if some still have strong edges, you could drag them between keyboard keys to pull out the stupid amount of cat hair and sesame seeds collected in the gaps (maybe that’s just my keyboard).

Any other reuses?

They can also be included in a number of crafts/decoration projects – for example, they could cheer up dull storage boxes, and could also be used as a fun way to differentiate the boxes or label them if they need to be in sequence. Some brilliant people have turned them into business card wallets, MP3 players/iPod cases, or even a fantastic bag. They can also be used for any type of small scale papercrafts that require a light card.

Any other suggestions on what to make from them?
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